Kilmainham Irish:Cill Mhaighneann | |
|---|---|
Inner suburb | |
 Clockwise from top: The gardens at theRoyal Hospital Kilmainham; Heuston South Quarter; the Irish Museum of Modern Art at Royal Hospital Kilmainham | |
  Kilmainham Location in Dublin Show map of Dublin Kilmainham Location in Ireland Show map of Ireland | |
| Coordinates:53°20′35″N6°19′17″W / 53.3431°N 6.3215°W /53.3431; -6.3215 | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Leinster |
| County | Dublin |
| City | Dublin |
| Government | |
| • Dáil constituency | Dublin South-Central |
| • Local authority | Dublin City Council |
Kilmainham (Irish:Cill Mhaighneann, meaning "St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb ofDublin,Ireland, south of theRiver Liffey and west of thecity centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8postal district.
Kilmainham's foundation dates to theearly Christian period, with the monastery of Cell Maignenn (Cill Mhaighneann in modern Irish) established by the year 606.[1] By 795, the ecclesiastical site, located on the ridge of land at the confluence of theLiffey and theCamac, may still have been the only substantial structure along the Liffey's banks.[2]
TheKilmainham Brooch, a late 8th- or early 9th-centuryCeltic brooch of the "penannular" type (i.e. its ring does not fully close or is incomplete) was unearthed in the area.
In the wake of theViking settlement of nearby Dublin from 841, Vikings were present in Kilmainham too, one of a number of villages that stretched up the river bank toClondalkin.[3]
Viking cemeteries at the site of the monastery and at nearby Islandbridge were discovered during gravel quarrying, railroad works and the preparation of theWar Memorial Gardens. Dozens of pagan burials with grave goods, dating to the 9th century, have been recorded.[4] The burial sites taken together constitute the largest known Viking cemetery in western Europe outside Scandinavia.[5]
TheBattle of Islandbridge took place in the area in 919, with Viking forces underSitric Cáech defeating Gaelic Irish forces under high kingNiall Glúndub. In 1013,Murchad, the son ofBrian Boru, is recorded by the annals as having raided into Leinster as far as Kilmainham.[6]
In the 12th century, in the wake of the Norman invasion of Ireland, the lands on the banks of the Liffey were granted to theKnights Hospitaller.[7]Strongbow erected for them a castle about 2 kilometres or 1 mile distant from the Danish wall of old Dublin; andHugh Tyrrel, firstBaron Castleknock, granted them part of the lands which now form thePhoenix Park. TheKnights of St. John of Jerusalem remained in possession of the land until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.[8]
Until the time ofQueen Elizabeth, whenDublin Castle became the centre of English power, theLord Lieutenants often held court at the manor of Kilmainham. In 1559,Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, on being again appointed Lord Lieutenant, found that the building at Kilmainham had been damaged by a storm, and had to hold court at thepalace of St. Sepulchre. The following year Elizabeth ordered that Dublin Castle be upgraded to enable the Lord Lieutenant to reside there, and Kilmainham fell out of favour.[8]
TheManor of Kilmainham formed aliberty outside the jurisdiction of the city of Dublin, with its own rights and privileges. The manor took in parts ofJames's Street and side streets and stretched as far asLucan andChapelizod.[9] After theReformation, former lords (or chairmen, as they were later called) of this manor includedLord Cloncurry and Sir Edward Newenham. John "Bully" Egan, from Charleville, County Cork, was chairman from 1790 to 1800. These manorial rights were abolished after theMunicipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840, and much of the area was included within the city.
The population was 670 inhabitants at the time of the 1841 census.[10]
The portion still outside the city in the latter part of the nineteenth century was within the township ofNew Kilmainham, a municipality governed bytown commissioners, first under theTowns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854 and then under alocal act, theNew Kilmainham Township Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. cx).[11] From 1868, New Kilmainham comprised thetownlands of Kilmainham,Goldenbridge North,Inchicore North, Inchicore South, and Butchers Arms. Its total area was 580 acres (230 ha) and the population was 5,391 in 1881 and 6,519 in 1891.[12] It became anurban district under theLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898.[13] In 1900, the urban district was abolished and the area was transferred from the county into the jurisdiction of the city of Dublin as the New Kilmainhamward.[14][15]
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Royal Hospital Kilmainham, constructed on the site where theKnights of St. John of Jerusalem had theirpriory in Dublin. It now houses theIrish Museum of Modern Art. TheRichmond Tower marks the junction between the formal pedestrianised avenue leading to the Royal Hospital, and theSouth Circular Road.
Nearby isKilmainham Gaol, where theexecutions of the leaders of theEaster Rising took place.
Kilmainham is home to an importantViking Age burial site, part of a complex of cemeteries which also includes finds at the War Memorial Gardens. The artefacts, mostly discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries, during industrial, transport and park works, are now part of the collection at theNational Museum of Ireland.
The River Camac runs through Kilmainham and is crossed by bridges at the South Circular Road, Rowserstown Lane and Bow Lane.
TheDublin Heuston railway station, one of Dublin's three mainrailway stations, is nearby.
Former or current residents of the town have included:
